


Tulip

by varisaura



Category: Inazuma Eleven
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Universe, Denial of Feelings, Developing Relationship, Feelings Realization, First Love, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Rivals to Lovers, Sun Garden ensemble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:02:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23285962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/varisaura/pseuds/varisaura
Summary: - I can give you as many tulips as you want. - Haruya said, walking barefoot on the grass, the sunlight dripping beautifully on his skin.- I said, - Fuusuke was walking a few steps behind him, his hand in Haruya’s. - Don’t pick them up or they’ll wither soon with this heat.
Relationships: Nagumo Haruya | Burn/Suzuno Fuusuke | Gazel
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	Tulip

**Author's Note:**

> Henlooo I'm back finally, writing something for my otp after almost two years!!!  
> I'm kinda proud of how this turned out. I hope you like it too :D

That day, Haruya gifted him a beautiful flower.

It all happened when Kira Hitomiko wanted to bring the Sun Garden children to the Ibaraki countryside, and finally convinced Father. Hitomiko insisted on wanting her _siblings_ spend some time there because she said that house in the countryside was her first experience away from the chaotic Tokyo city.

It was the 17th of June, and as Hiroto was folding his light airy shirts into his suitcase and Ryuuji was staring at him lovingly and secretly, on the other side of the room there were Fuusuke and Haruya giving each other the silent treatment.

Ryuuji could not understand how it could be the third time that same week, but deep down he knew how things were between those two hot-heads.

\- What happened this time? - he whispered to Hiroto, not wanting to upset any of the two.

\- I guess it’s the usual stuff, Haruya being tactless and Fuusuke expecting things he should know better not to expect from him. - Hiroto just stated, as if he was just used to their play.

\- I see... - Ryuuji said, a bit worryingly. He should know by now it was the norm between them.

Hiroto looked completely unfazed, while Ryuuji could not bring himself to act as if everything was fine.

\- Baby don’t worry, - Hiroto said, - they’re gonna make up in a few hours. They’re a Taurus and an Aries, you know their way already.

\- Yeah but... - Ryuuji let his words die in his throat. There was no “but”, he knew things were going to work out exactly the way Hiroto said. They always did.

Fuusuke was neatly folding his shorts, Haruya was uncaringly throwing stuff in his suitcase. The white-haired boy could not help sighing at the thought of Haruya’s clothes being all wrinkled once he would wear them. Haruya pretended he did not see him, but he did. He did and it did not go unnoticed, because Haruya closed his suitcase, took a brief look at the time on his phone and said: - Hey you snails, you’d better hurry or you won’t be leaving.

Specifically, he was looking at Fuusuke.

\- Haruya, we’re going to Ibaraki, not to Los Angeles. They can wait. - Hiroto laughed softly.

\- Besides, Haruya-kun, it’s not very likely of you to be worried about being on time. - Ryuuji added.

\- Anyway, shut up you two lovey-dovey birds. - Haruya was not angry at them, he just was not in the mood for listening to their voices and being reminded of their blooming relationship. He wanted to poke Fuusuke, wanted to have his reaction, but he was _really_ acting like Haruya was not even in the room.

Fuusuke loved to ignore him, but loved a little less when it was Haruya who was ignoring him. But this time he swore he had had enough of Haruya. He had had enough of Haruya not believing any word of affection coming straight out of his mouth, and not thinking there could be anything else between them except rivalry.

They had been going on for so many years no one in their teams was any longer surprised about their weird relationship. They knew their captains too well, both too in love with each other, both too dense to realize it, both too proud to admit it.

Fuusuke loved bragging to Haruya about his precise techniques, about his infallible tactics, the speed of his moves, the perfect understanding with his members, as Haruya himself loved doing the same with Fuusuke. Hiroto could swear that overhearing a casual conversation would mean hearing them bragging about themselves and bringing each other down.

That was just how things worked for them. That was the only way they were used to talk to each other. Things were that way between them since God knows when, and it seemed more than okay.

But at a certain point, Fuusuke could feel himself growing tired of constantly fighting with him. Maybe because he was growing up, morphing slowly into an adult, his mind being occupied with much more things than just inventing new insults for someone who was actually the love of his life.

It was one night in November, when they were alone in their room, that Fuusuke whispered into Haruya’s ear.

\- Aren’t you tired of fighting? It’s been going on for years now... - he just pleaded, sitting next to him.

\- But what’s the fun if we don’t fight? - Haruya just smiled, pinching his cheek.

So, Fuusuke thought to himself, Haruya dismissed it as just some harmless fun. He was kinda right though. It was fun. But he was not sure of how fun it was when he happened to get turned on by Haruya’s teasing, while he was probably clueless and innocent.

Well, not _totally_ innocent, but not surely meaning what Fuusuke was thinking of.

Probably that’s what frustrated him the most: being so hopelessly attracted to him, and not being able to do anything about it. Whenever Haruya was sweaty and would take off his shirt in their room, Fuusuke could not help making snarky comments or ironic remarks. It was always something on the lines of “Ugh, Nagumo can’t you go show off to Heat or someone else? We don’t want to see you naked or something.”, to which Haruya could not help replying something like “Shut up nerd, I don’t think you’re that sure about it.”.

And that would just make Fuusuke sigh an annoyed “You wish”, seemingly unfazed, hiding that in fact he was not disliking it, not even a little bit. So he would just turn away, and keep reading whatever was between his hands, and oh so instantly losing interest in it.

Ryuuji and Hiroto were done with their luggage, exiting their room. Only the two of them were now in the room. The mere fact that Haruya stayed there, as if he was waiting for him, made him feel irritated.

\- What are you waiting for? Get out of here, since you’ve been saying you were ready for the past two hours.

Haruya looked up at him. - What the fuck do you want? Aren’t I allowed to do whatever I want in my room?

Fuusuke hurried and hastily closed his case, leaving Haruya alone in their room.

Haruya stared into the golden sun of the afternoon, a few tears pooling right before his eyes.

He wondered what he could do this time.

Every time they fought, they always managed to make up. He was many times the reason Fuusuke cried, but he was also the one who never failed to bring his smile back. He knew that their only way of dealing with being orphans was showing off their power, their talent, the result of their hard work. That could only fill their ego, but could not make up for their need of love.

And Haruya did not find a brother in Fuusuke, but something beyond that.

He could not imagine making Fuusuke so angry with his usual light-heartedness (better than that, his deep insecurity), that same day.

He could not bear with the guilt of making Fuusuke feel like he did not believe in his feelings. He went too lightly in a conversation he should not even have taken part in, he could have chosen something better to say, he could have paid attention to what his soul was feeling, when the other was finally, kinda, exposing his vulnerability to him, and no one else but him.

Fuusuke had been trying to understand his feelings for him for a while, and he realized it. Every once in a while in the past weeks, he would find Fuusuke looking at him and soon moving his gaze to somewhere else. At that point Haruya knew he could make him go crazy if he even just stared back to him. And that first time, Fuusuke could not bear the weight of his stare. They were eating in the orphanage canteen. Fuusuke was sitting with his teammates of Diamond Dust, while he had just sat down with his fellow Prominence members. He locked eyes with him just for a second longer than expected, with a smirk that was not expected either. After that, the captain of Diamond Dust got up and went away, heavily flustered.

It was just a simple smirk, a mere one-second-longer gaze, yet Fuusuke felt like Haruya was already being too rough.

Fuusuke swore he would prefer that rough Haruya, instead of the one who could not take him seriously and laugh at the display of his feelings for him. He would prefer another kind of rough play coming from Haruya, just not that. At this point he thought he could not stand Haruya anymore, as long as he was going to keep distancing himself from any kind of emotional closeness.

That very morning, Ryuuji, Haruya and Hiroto woke up to Fuusuke’s empty bed. Haruya did not seem worried, he knew where to look for him. They had spent so many of their spring nights up there. He reassured the others that he would find him. He walked the empty familiar corridors until he reached that passage to the roof. He proceeded quickly on the stairs, just to see the door leading to the rooftop open, and just to find Fuusuke sitting there, his body folded with his head rested on his knees, enjoying the warm morning sun. He looked at Haruya with his magical icy eyes, the sunlight overflowing from his iris. Haruya felt like he was seeing a god right before his eyes, and had to be extra careful with walking up to him.

\- Trying to get your skin burnt right before we leave? - Haruya said, sitting next to him.

\- What if I am? - he smiled softly, enjoying his presence right next to him. Fuusuke figured he would be awake since not even half an hour, his hair was still sleepily ruffled, the tulip on his hair still wavy.

\- You shouldn’t risk. Your skin is so delicate... - Haruya said, trying to meet his gaze.

\- You worrying about me? What is this, the end of the world?

\- You’re right. - he said. - Maybe it’s the end of the world.

They laughed it off, and stayed like that for something like half an hour, before the bomb dropped.

\- So, - Fuusuke said with a soft, barely visible smile, as if he was throwing a stone in a river, - why did you come look for me? 

\- 'Cause... well... when the others woke up got worried because they didn't see you. So they told me to look for you.

\- I see. - Fuusuke said, now laconic, his smile gone and forgotten.

\- Also, you promised Prominence a match this morning, I think it's kinda late already. If your team is waiting for you, but you haven't prepared yet...

\- If all you care about is a stupid match please leave or I'll be the one to do so. 

\- It's not stupid, you promised me...

\- Please, leave or I will. - Fuusuke said one last time, his voice felt like the sand of a lonely desert in Haruya's mind.

Haruya sat still, so it was a matter of seconds when Fuusuke got up and left him alone, on _their_ spot on the rooftop. Haruya lacked the courage to tell him he just could not leave. But at least he had the courage not to stand up and go away. He showed he needed to stay next to him, right? _Right?_ That match was important to him just because it was his promise. 

He felt like he would never be able to finally open up to him the way Fuusuke was slowly but steadily doing with him.

But if Haruya himself could not understand the emotional chaos inside his heart, how could Fuusuke expect him to deal rationally with his feelings? 

Well, maybe Fuusuke did not actually expect him to deal _rationally_ with his feelings, but just to simply deal with them, instead of burying them deep down in the core of the Earth. 

During the road trip to Ibaraki, Fuusuke was talking to Hiroto and Ryuuji on the other side of the bus, laughing and smiling happily. He did not even spare a glance to him. Not even one.

His teammates wanted to keep him entertained, he looked visibly lost in his thoughts. He looked out of the window, sometimes following the white stripes painted on the roadside, sometimes bringing his gaze up and looking at the beauty of summer engulfing nature whole, the sunrays looked like honey dripping from the refulgent green leaves of the trees, the nearer they were getting to their final destination. He felt like everything lost its spark, even the ideal of such a nice vacation away from Tokyo. He wanted to go home already. But he could not.

What he could not see, was Ryuuji sometimes looking up to him, as he would soon refer everything to his ice-eyed friend. Haruya decided he could not have it any longer. He needed to change this as soon as he could. He thought he could not keep feeling that deranged once again.

So it was then, that day, when Fuusuke received a beautiful flower.

Soon after dinner, he went to his room to look for god knows what, and found a red tulip on his newly-laid _futon_. He took it, held it delicately between his hands, and brought it closer to smell the scent of its luscious petals. It did not smell like Haruya, yet his head was soon filled with thoughts of him, his golden honey eyes and his proud smile.

Haruya appeared at the door, and the other turned back to see who it could be of his roommates.

\- I know it’s not the tulip season, - he said, - but...

\- What do you want? - Fuusuke was not angry, his tone was rather tired instead.

\- I need to talk to you. - his voice was barely audible. The others were singing and playing loudly in the garden, a song about praying for good weather to come tomorrow.

The other did not reply, but just wanted to be over this soon. He would finally stopliving in the illusion of Haruya making peace with his heart.

\- About what. - he said, eventually.

\- About us. About me, actually. - Fuusuke did not want to respond now. Listening was more than enough.

\- I’m sorry, y’know, for this morning. I’m sorry I haven’t been of any help since the day we met.

\- You know this is not true...

\- I’m sorry that you had to catch feelings for someone as messed up as me.

Fuusuke was in disbelief, he had never heard Haruya say “I’m sorry” so many times in his whole life.

There was silence in their room, for a while.

\- It’s not your fault, - Fuusuke said, after gaining some courage to speak. - it just happened.

\- It’s just that, I’ve never learned how to deal with this stuff that happens whenever we fight and make up.

Fuusuke looked at him in the eyes, but the other was still too ashamed to lock gazes with him.

\- When we are together, we could take over the world. You know, it’s like I feel complete, but I don’t know how to explain. Even if you are my rival, I would want to rule the world with you. But whenever we fight, mostly when I make you angry, it feels like a part of me is missing.

That was the most affectionate thing he could ever expect Haruya to say.

\- And today, I felt like I could be losing that part of me piece by piece if I didn’t tell you what’s going on in my head. ‘Cause you are that part of me.

Now, that was definitely the most affectionate thing he could ever hear from Haruya.

\- It was me who insisted on coming look for you this morning, and told the others not to worry. And I cared about that match because it was your promise. And I really care about everything you say or do, even if I don’t show it.

From the white-haired boy’s eyes two single tears were falling on his moonlit cheeks.

\- Are you really crying? - Haruya said with a smile, coming closer to the other boy to hug him, and let his body melt with the other’s presence.

\- You’re the one who got all sentimental but laugh at me for crying? - Fuusuke said lightly, teasing him, his mouth close to the other’s shoulder.

\- You can laugh at me too. - Haruya said.

\- You dumbass I can’t laugh at you. Those are the nicest things you will ever say to me. - the other replied, drying his tears on the fabric of Haruya’s shirt.

\- Do you think so low of me? I will be able to say even nicer things like “I love you”, someday.

Fuusuke’s heart was beating fast, yet he had never been so calm around Haruya. They stayed like that for some time. Fuusuke lightly laid the tulip bulb on Haruya’s hair.

\- I can give you as many tulips as you want. - Haruya said, walking barefoot on the grass, the sunlight dripping beautifully on his skin.

\- I said, - Fuusuke was walking a few steps behind him, his hand in Haruya’s. - Don’t pick them up or they’ll wither soon with this heat.

\- I said, I want to give you as many tulips as you want. - he protested teasingly.

\- But I only want one. - Fuusuke said, reaching to him for a kiss.

The weather had never been so nice.


End file.
